Metal-clad acoustical ceiling tile and its manufacture

ABSTRACT

A ceiling tile is covered with a metal sheet. Around punch places acoustical openings in both the metal sheet and ceiling tile. The metal sheet is bent around the edge of the ceiling tile and tightly held thereto to fasten the metal sheet to the ceiling tile.

nited States Patent 15] 3,695,395 Ollinger et a1. Oct. 3, 1972 1 METAL-GLAD ACOUSTICAL CEILING 3,074,505 1/ 1963 Schulz ..52/496 X TILE AND ITS MANUFACTURE 2,596,280 5/1952 Nystrom ..52/622 X [72] Inventors: James C. Omnger; Herbert wolf, 2,694,233 11/1954 Page ..l81/33.1 3,131,442 5/1964 Persson-Melin ..52/222 Jr., both of Lancaster, Yves Latour, 4 M 181 33 11 Chester County a of Pa 3,143,026 8/196 erson 3,203,149 8/ 1965 Soddy ..52/127 [73] Assignee: Armstrong Cork Company, Lan- 3,509,671 5/ 1970 Akerson ..52/622 X caster, Pa. 3,513,613 5/1970 Jones et a1. ..52/222 [22] Wed: May 1970 Primary ExaminerRobert s. Ward, Jr. [21] Appl. No.: 35,491 Att0meyClifford B. Price [52] u.s.c1. ..1s1/33 o, 181/33 GA, 52/145, [57] ABSTRACT 52/222, 52/496, 52/622 A ceiling tile is covered with a metal sheet. Around [51] Int. Cl. ..E04b 1/86, E04c 2/38 punch places acoustical openings in both the metal [58] Field of Search ..181/33, 30, 33.1, 33.11; sheet and ceiling tile. The metal sheet is bent around 52/ 127, 144, 145, 222, 496, 622 the edge of the ceiling tile and tightly held thereto to fasten the metal sheet to the ceiling tile. 56 R f C'ted I 1 lClainuZDrawingFigures UNITED STATES PATENTS 3, 4 580 96 s ow a PATENTEDucra m2 3 695. 395

INVENTOR JAMES C- OLLINGER HERBERT R- WOLF, JR.

YVES LATOUR ATTORNEY ITS MANUFACTURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The invention relates to a ceiling tile and its method of manufacture, and more particularly, to a metal faced acoustical ceiling tile.

2. Description of the Prior Art US. Pat. No. 3,074,505 discloses a metal faced acoustical tile. The patent teaches the fabrication of the tile. The metal face is fastened to the tile by tongues which are produced when the acoustical holes are punched in the tile by a polygonal punch. The edges of the metal facing for the acoustical tile are deliberately made loose to compensate for misalignment of joints between adjacent tiles. The patent specifically teaches in column 2 that a punching tool of round section does not produce tongues adequate to hold the metal facing relative to the tile material.

The invention herein has the acoustical holes formed by a round punch. The round punch provides a more aesthetically pleasing hole design over that of a polygonal punch. In addition, the round punch permits one to utilize hole structures of various diameters to greatly improve the aesthetics of the tile. Finally, the round hole configuration provides less pillowing. The pillowing is the appearance of a crater effect surrounding each acoustical opening. This is an apparent effect and not an actual effect. It results from a diffusion of light that is received from the angular surfaces constituting the sides of the hole formed by a polygonal punch. When the hole is formed by a round punch there does not exist a plurality of angular surfaces to give a light diffusion pattern which causes simulation of a crater effect around the punched openmg.

Naturally, the use of the round holes does give a reasonable bond of the metal to the face of the underlying tile material. The metal and tile material are further held together by having the edges of the metal sheet grip the edge of the underlying tile material. The tight edge construction eliminates any need for gluing of the metal sheet to the underlying tile material at the edges thereof and assists in pulling the metal sheet taut across the face of the acoustical tile. An additional benefit flows from the tight edge construction as compared to the above patented loose edge configuration in that the tight edge configuration allows the tiles to be placed one against the other. This means that the junction of four separate tiles forms only a cross line effect. With the above patented loose edge configuration the four adjacent ceiling tiles are positioned apart a sufficient distance so' that an opening exists in the region of the corners of the four adjacent tiles. This gives a cross line effect with the center of the cross not being two crossing lines, but a circle with four lines extending therefrom.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is directed to a metal faced acoustical ceiling tile and its method of manufacture. The metal sheet material is placed over the face of an acoustical material and a round punch places acoustical openings in both the metal sheet and acoustical material. The

edges of the metal sheet are bent around the edge of the acoustical material and are pulled tight against the acoustical material to hold the metal sheet to the acoustical material. The edges of the metal sheetare provided with small recurved beads to assist in the drawing of the metal material tight around the edges of the acoustical material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. II is a sectional view of FIG. I along line Il-Il.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. I], the acoustical tile 2 is composed of a porous backing board 4 and a metal facing sheet 6. The elements 4 and 6 are conventional in the art and may be the same or comparable to those materials set forth in US. Pat. No. 3,074,505. However, this is the end of any similarity between the structure herein and the above-mentioned patent.

The acoustical holes 8 of the structure herein are formed by a punch with a round cross section. The round configuration permits the use of a plurality of different hole sizes since it is not necessary to produce certain size tongues which must perform the function of holding the metal sheet to the backing board. In addition, the rounded configuration of the edge of the holes provides light reflecting paths which diffuse reflected light since the light is reflected at a multitude of paths. Such a feature would not exist if a polygonal punch would be used because the punch would form a plurality of reflective surfaces, the number of surfaces being equal to the number of sides on the punch. This then provides the above-described pillowing effect.

The backing board 4 is provided with a conventional kerf 5 which is used to receive conventional ceiling suspension elements. An additional recess 7 is provided for receiving the recurved bead 10 so that the recurved bead 10 does not prevent the suspension elements from being placed in the kerf 5.

The metal sheet 6 is provided with a recurved bead 10 at its peripheral edges. The recurved bead 10 is grasped by a mechanical structure and a force in the direction 12 causes the metal sheet 6 to be bent around the edge of the backing board to form the edge configuration 14. This tight edge configuration in conjunction with the round punched hole structure is what holds the metal sheet to the backing board 4. In addition, the force moving in the direction 12, acting on recurved bead 10, tends to tauten, that is, draw taut, the surface 16 of the metal sheet. This will help to eliminate any sag of the metal sheet 6 away from the backing board 4 when the metal clad acoustical tile is placed in a ceiling structure. The tight edge configuration eliminates the need for glue to hold the metal sheet to the backing board 4.

Finally, an acoustical ceiling tile with a metal facing formed in the above manner may be controlled very closely as to size. Such a structure also has an extremely straight edge structure. Consequently, when four of the above metal clad ceiling tiles are placed in a ceiling structure, the four tiles fit very closely together and the seam therebetween appears as only a fine pencil line edge of said facing sheet having a recurved bead means, and said peripheral edge of the facing sheet being tightly fastened to the edge of the backing board, so that the facing sheet is fixedly held to the backing board, said tight'fastening of the edge of the facing sheet to the edge of the backing board being secured due to the presence of the recurved bead means which functions as the means to be acted on by the force which will draw the peripheral edge of the facing sheet tightly around the edge of the backing board. 

1. An acoustical tile comprising in combination a metal facing sheet and a porous backing board behind and in contact with said sheet, said metal facing sheet and said porous backing board having substantially round acoustical openings which pass completely through the metal facing sheet and into the backing board, the peripheRal edge of the facing sheet extending entirely around the edge of said backing board, the edge of said facing sheet having a recurved bead means, and said peripheral edge of the facing sheet being tightly fastened to the edge of the backing board, so that the facing sheet is fixedly held to the backing board, said tight fastening of the edge of the facing sheet to the edge of the backing board being secured due to the presence of the recurved bead means which functions as the means to be acted on by the force which will draw the peripheral edge of the facing sheet tightly around the edge of the backing board. 